This week I've had lots of people asking me who Latasha Harlins is and why I decided to name this EP after her. I like it a lot when people ask. My three releases so far have each been named after people who I felt it was important to be aware of.

Smiley Culture  - The first black british MC to chart in the UK. Shot in his own home during an incident with the police.

Winston Silcott - Part of the Tottenham Three.  A man wrongly accused for killing PC Keith Blakelock in the 1987 Broadwater Farm Riots.

And now Latasha...

Latasha was a 15 year old girl who went to buy a carton of orange juice in a supermarket in downtown LA in 1991. She walks in to the shop, picks up a drink and carries it over to the counter. The cashier grabs the juice but won't sell it Latasha and theres a small altercation. Latasha leaves the juice and turns to walk out of the shop. The cashier pulls a gun out from under the till and shoots Latasha in the back of the head.
Latasha was an un armed walking away.
The cashier got 400 hours community service and a fine for shooting and killing Latasha. 
A year later the 1992 LA race riots started.

I first came across Latasha's name whilst watching a documentary about OJ Simpson. The story of Latasha stayed with me. Its hard to believe that crimes like this took place. A young innocent girl dies and her killer gets nothing more than a fine and community service. Latasha died in America where shootings seem to happen all the time. The gun laws clearly need updating, it is a fact that more Americans kill each other with guns than terrorists of members of the islamic state.

As a Londoner its very easy for us to sit here and feel safer cause we don't have guns or bullets flying around. However, we are no better. In 1993 Stephen Lawrence got stabbed in a racist attack in South London. The gang that killed Stephen still haven't all been charged and the Lawrence family are still fighting for justice for Stephen and laws to be changed.

I don't want Latasha Harlins to be forgotten. That's why my EP is called 'Who Stands With Latasha Harlins?'


RIP Latasha Harlins 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW--IGAfeas

38 years ago today we lost Sid Vicous, he was 21 years old. That makes him 6 years too young to be in the 27 club. Joe Strummer was 25 when he started The Clash, Amy Winehouse was 22 when Back to Black came out, Kurt was 23 when he met Courtney and Morrissey didn't even meet Marr until he was at least 22. If Sid was any of those people he would have been dead before all these musical miracles happened.
It breaks my heart what happened to Sid. I assume that everybody knows the story. If not I'll fill you in with what I know from documentaries, books and just googling what happened to him. Sid used to hang around all the squats and venues in London at the same time as the Punk scene was born. When Glen Matlock left the Pistols Sid replaced him, the band went to America and toured a lot, Sid met Nancy around that time, they became drug addicts and then one fatal night at The Chelsea Hotel Nancy died. Sid was arrested for her murder and less than a year later Sid himself was dead, at 21.

You cant help but question why nobody seemed to do anything. How did they let it get so bad? What was Malcolm Mclaren doing sending the band out on tour when Sid was clearly a self harming addict? How was he allowed to go to America or even get in to America? What were the media doing? How can you photograph a drug addict and not help them? There are videos on Youtube of Sid and Nancy clearly off their face, falling asleep and crying out in desperation, how can somebody just film them? But by that point it looks like it had probably gone too far and there was little you could do. If there is one thing that everybody knows its that you cant help a drug addict unless they want you to help them. 

​

What happened to Sid was so sad. I don't think anyone will have him in their list of greatest ever songwriters or musicians but he was still a hero, an idol, and most importantly a person. Just because he was in the public eye doesn't really mean he was different to anyone else, an addict is an addict no matter where you put them. My friend Adrian Boot took photos of Sid, he told me that he left questioning why no one was contacting Social Services, as Sid's situation was so dire.

There is nothing we can do now to help Sid or bring him back, we just have to remember his sad sad story. You can question his death all you like and get so frustrated about why no one appeared to stop him from going from cool bass playing west London squatter to heroin addict girlfriend murderer, but you cant do anything now. The only thing we can do from Sid story is learn from it. I will happily declare that I have never taken any drugs and considering that I went to music college in Camden Town and I am a working musician its not like I have never come across drugs. Thats pretty rare, I am usually the only person in a room that hasn't, its partly because I do feel like if I took any drugs I think i'd wake up the next Jim Morrison and have to learn the  harmonica and move to Paris and live out of a suitcase, but partly cause I am not fucking stupid. Obviously you're not going to take drugs once and become an addict but everyone starts somewhere. 

What annoys me most is the arrogance of it all. The 'it won't happen to me' attitude, and the majority of the time, it does. Addicts don't just wake up addicts do they? I understand that curiosity can be a huge part of it. I myself went through a stage of trying to understand the Acid House movement, thats obviously quite hard to do if you don't take E. I can assure anyone reading this that Voodoo Ray sounds shit when your listening to it in your bedroom in 2016 at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday morning. I did eventually give up on Acid House and just told myself it was a 'you just had to have been there to get it' scene.

Oscar Wilde died cause of drugs, so what makes stupid recreational users think they can handle it if Wilde couldn't? Johnny Thunders, Malcolm Rut, Judy Garland, Hendrix, the break up of The Smiths, The Clash Whitney fucking Housten. How many more Sid Vicous' do we have to watch fall before people stop being curious? 

To round things off, I am not sitting on a high horse here, I am just an observer and this is just my opinion.  Next time someone offers you a balloon and you sit there trying to catch your breath or someone offers you a pill and Voodoo Ray starts to sound good have a word with yourself. If Oscar Wilde couldn't handle it what makes you think you can?
RIP Sid Vicous.

What a wanky title… 
I've been meaning to write another blog post for a while but I haven't really known what to write. Thats another wanky start really isn't it?

I don't think this year will be 'new year, new me' don't worry, I am not planning on going heavy metal or anything. This year hopefully I'll keep doing pretty much the same thing I was doing last year but on a bigger scale. Here are a few things I have planned that I can mention… remember there are other things maybe happening but I cant really mention them incase they don't work out!

I want to come and play up north, or at least just somewhere further than Milton Keynes. I am working on that don't worry! I really want to play in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. I promise I am trying to get these things sorted. 

I can announce on this blog that there will be a new EP release!! Yay!! Finally after a whole year of being in the studio I will release some new music! I am really excited about it and I am really excited to go and play it and for you all to hear it! It won't all be on Banjo ( if you haven't already check out my Banjo cover here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAtNrljFY_Q) 

More gigs, band and solo and more songs! I can assure you of that!

The Music Industry can be a difficult place to stick to your guns and keep your Joe Strummer Faith, thats whats slowed me down a bit this year, but its okay, I'll get there!

Last night I played a gig at Nambucca on the Holloway Road, it was so amazing! I have had really bad sickness this weekend so I didn't stay for very long and I didn't even manage a soundcheck (whoops…) but it was a great night and made me feel much better! Thank you for not booing me or throwing anything!


New year… better me...Thats a bit less wanky, but a bit cheesy! I'll just stop going on about the New Year maybe!

xxx

I have anxiety. Its really annoying. I have had it ever since I was little and I used to get so worried about school. To me anxiety is worrying about worrying, its the classic thing of worrying that you will get stressed out and not be able to do something. You panic about something before it has even happened and so the anxiety of a situation is worse in your head than it ever is in real life. I have had it quite badly. Sometimes the idea of being in my room with the record player on listening to The Jam B-sides is the best place for me. Social anxiety is annoying and truth be told I blame my career choice for that one. The fear that someone will ask me how my singing is going can be petrifying! Because I do something different to just getting a 9-5 or going to uni and then being a post grad, means that people are more likely to ask you what you have been up to and how you are getting on. Usually I can answer with quite a solid result. ' I have just played Glastonbury with Billy Bragg' or 'I have been in the studio with The Courteeners' or ' I am supporting Rhoda Dhkar at the 100 Club' are all pretty valid answers. They also to stop the person replying with the equally painful retort of 'have you considered the X Factor?' 
I think anxiety can be controlled by a schedule or a routine and easily achievable targets which then can give you a kind of contentment. In this industry you don't really get that cause you never know what is going to happen. I didn't know I was going to play Glastonbury until about 2 months before so I couldn't really work towards it, someone pulled out of one of the stages and so I didn't even know about that particular slot until about a week before. I can set myself targets and try my hardest to achieve them but then what if a tour comes up? That throws you out completely! Timetables are hard too as you work such odd hours and as I've just said you sometimes don't know whats going to come your way until that day! If you read the Keith Richards book he says that when they went to France to record they became completely nocturnal and had absolutely no routine… They obviously were all quite badly addicted to drugs but you see my point about musicians struggling to have a routine!
Anxiety is something i try and keep a lid on. I don't want anyone thinking I have jumped on the 2016 bandwagon of 'I have anxiety quick someone get me a rescue remedy.' You don't know what it is like until you have had an attack. Luckily I don't have them that often but I had a particularly hard one in my tent at Glastonbury ( I realise I have been quite Glasto heavy this blog piece) where I couldn't catch my breath and had to call my dad. The heart break the next morning when I realised I was the girl from Pulp Common People, 'If you call your dad he can stop it all…' was what upset me the most. I am old enough to look after myself and my job is to stand on a stage in front of lots of people thats what I have always dreamed of! Why do I have to be so anxious about it?!
It is not something I am in control over but its not something I am ashamed of either. I just don't really go on about it. Maybe i'll delete this post as soon as I post it… I don't want people thinking they cant ask me how I am doing. I don't really drink alcohol cause it makes it worse that is my main tip! Keep away from things that are going to make you emotionally unstable! I also don't go on about it as I absolutely fucking hate the idea that people will say I am 'just dramatic'! Or worse, 'hormonal'! I have been both of those things in my life but when anxiety hits you, there is no room for any other emotion apart from straight up anxiety!

There are loads of things I can go on about in this post but I won't. I am not Carrie Bradshaw and I would like anyone reading to move on from this and read about other things I have done you might find interesting! (Read about when I met Keith Allen a few pages down!!) But I have anxiety and I try to deal with it! Stage fright is a form of it! Vlogging and blogging can be hard. Social Media as a whole is a struggle cause you automatically compare and that makes you super anxious!!

So lets end of a Joe Strummer quote ' I don't believe in lying back and saying how bad your luck is…." 
and finally and most importantly...

'People can do anything they want to'

​xxxxxxxx

This week I played at The Lexington! I haven't wanted to do that for ages! The Lexington and The Shacklewell Arms have been on my to do list for ages and I have finally managed it! I went to The Lexington the other week to go and see a band called Black Honey and it was great! The venue is really cool, its the perfect kind of size I reckon, not too big and not too small and the sound is great on stage! We played Exposure for John Kennedy, we played one of his nights the other week in Tooting but I did it solo, so it was great to go back with a band!
The night was ran by a booking / promotion company called Kilimanjaro. At the moment they are putting The Red Hot Chilli Peppers at I THINK Wembley, so they are super super cool!
The night was great! Here is a picture of me looking a bit wobbly next to John Kennedy!  

On Monday I also finished putting down vocals on a few new songs in a studio in Edmonton with two guys called Sam and Oli. They have been amazing, the songs are nearly nearly done! We need a bit of brass and we're thinking about a few strings, but I am so excited about these tracks, they're really bringing the Ska vibe back that we have moved away from a tiny bit since Joey. I honestly cant wait to play them to everybody!

Here is an extremely dark photograph of the control room and me through the window singing! If you turn the lights of in the studio it helps with the ambiance, thats why the picture is so dark!

This week the QPR Podcast was released that i wrote the song for! It is such a massive honour to be asked to do the song for the QPR Podcast! The boys that run the show are up for a broadcasting award and so if you get a chance go over to twitter follow the link and vote for them!

Yes I know I do about a million QPR songs, I think I am about done with them all as I am running out of things that rhyme with Hasslebank! 

xxxxxx

This week I was asked to go up to The Roundhouse in Camden Town to take part in a workshop based around up and coming women in the music industry. It was a really cool day and I met loads of girls who are doing similar things to me and are working in the industry. We learnt about different PRS schemes just for helping girls and how we can use social media to support each other.

I was shocked to learn that less than 20% of the people singed up to PRS are girls! 

I am lucky that I have not come across that much sexism or prejudice in the industry, but thats not to say that it isn't out there. I only had one story to tell of sexism I have come across in my time as a working musician and i'll tell it now...

A few years ago I had a phone call from a promoter, asking if I wanted to play their venue that coming weekend. When you get phone calls booking you that close to the gig you know you are either replacing someone who's pulled out or the promoter isn't very well organised. I said I would play and the promoter said they would let me know sound check and stage time details as soon as they could. I didn't get any information through and so I turned up, with a friend at about 7pm that night.

Now, I think thats quite late, soundcheck is usually earlier but I sensed it wasn't very well organised. I went to the venue and in to the room with the stage. There was a man in there playing an acoustic guitar and a few of his mates. I said hello and we talked about who we were and what we were doing. He told me he hadn't gigged in years and that he was just going to play some covers, he said he had seen the running order and he was on after me. I (at the time) had just finished a mini radio tour and was promoting my 'Who Framed Winston Silcott? EP.' I had quite a bit of recognition from that EP and it was doing really well. It isn't arrogant of me to expect not to open a show when the act performing after me didn't have anything to promote, wasn't as currant as me and was just doing covers. 

He asked about my guitar and I told him I played a Daisy Rock. Daisy Rock guitars, for those of you who don't know, are guitars built especially for girls. They have a smaller neck so my hands can fit round them easier and they come in girly colours and are there to encourage girls to play. I am endorsed by them and they are kind enough to send me over guitars for free for me to use at my gigs. At the time of this gig I was playing a bright blue Daisy Rock, I still have it and I love it, its amazing. When I got my guitar out and showed the man in the venue he told me he thought my guitar was 'a shit guitar' I told him it was built especially for girls and he continued to tell me it was 'shit.' I decided to just leave the room, put my guitar away and go and find the promoter to find out what was going on. 


The promoter had arrived but was drunk and was laying on a table in the bar. I asked him what the stage times were and he said he needed to wait for the sound engineer. My friend Kerry and I went to get something to eat and came back. I was gutted about what the man in the venue had said about my instrument. It can be scary enough to get on stage and so his remarks made me feel really nervous. I kept thinking 'if he was brave enough to slag me off when its just me and him he's going to say really mean things when the venue is busier and he's had a drink' and 'if he says things to me like that when I am just there for the soundcheck whats he going to say when he actually hears me play!"

We went back to the venue and sat around for a bit. The promoter was still there getting steadily more and more drunk and there was no sign on a sound engineer. The guy who had insulted my guitar was at the bar too by this point and I had seen via a poster being put up round the venue that the guy was right and I would be on after him. Bare in mind it was about 9:30 by this point. I was getting more and more anxious and annoyed. So my friend and I just picked up our stuff and left. It is the only time I have ever refused to play and walked out of a gig.

To try and see both sides i guess I should think that maybe I cant put this incident down to sexism. Maybe its just that man being a dickhead. Maybe he just thought he'd try and show off in front of his mates and he just assumed that cause I was so young i'd be inexperienced and in awe of him as a musician, i don't know…. Maybe it IS arrogant of me to think that I should have been put on further up the bill. 

I don't really think that though.

It WAS nasty to tell a 17 year old her guitar was shit and it IS  wrong to get some shit old man playing Oasis covers to play after me when I am promoting my EP.

Looking back at it now I think the worst part of it is that someone would be so unsupportive of another act on the same bill! I wish I had told him to fuck off, smashed his guitar over his head, told the promoter his nights were shit and slammed the door on my way out. I am glad I didn't stay and play, purely cause it would have wasted my time. 

Sexism in any industry is terrible and it needs to end! Exactly the same as racism, agism and homophobia. There are loads of great ways to support ways of putting a stop to all this and I have listed some sites below.

Since that gig I have gone on to headline many shows including my own weekly residency, have big radio play, festival slots, studio sessions and tours. I am also lucky enough to never have experienced anything like this again anywhere else, so that proves there are good people out there! 

http://www.womeninmusic.org
http://iawm.org
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sexism-music-industry_uk_56fa8522e4b0ca3c7feb72a7

This week I was back in the studio again, this time I was recording Bonanza and a new song I written (so far unnamed) with a full band. It isn't really a very good idea to go in the studio and not have a name for a song, it just gets really complicated when it comes to editing and saving the song. I think this one was named 'Aint nothing but a Gangsta Party, obviously Tupac already has a song called that so I will 100% have to think of a new title.
The studio was great, it was in Edmonton and the boys that played were really cool. They have all been in bands and are top session musicians, however I don't think they really like being called session musicians. Either way they were really good and there wasn't any fuss or any issues, they just seemed to plug in and go. I guess I could refer to them as experienced performers, but I don't think they'd really like that either cause they weren't really old and calling them experienced makes them sound it! 
We recorded using tape which is my favourite way to do it. I don't really know why it is, it just is! I think because its so old school and you get a much cooler sound! 
We need to go back and put my vocal down and then hopefully some strings and a bit of brass then they will be finished songs! It was really exciting and I cant wait for these tracks to be ready and to share them with everybody.

I also played a show at The Black Heart in Camden Town supporting the band We Are Gold at their EP launch. They all had black on like head to toe black and so don't be fooled by their name if you like to think literally! It was actually really good fun and I managed to sell some CDs, and someone even paid with a new £5! I love Camden Town even though I am a west London girl! I cant wait for more shows like that but with a band! 

​xxxxx

This week we released a Bonanza video!! We filmed it last week in the pie and mash shop in Chapel Street Market. I don't know whether I said this in last weeks blog, but the lady working in the shop told me that David Beckham was eating in there the week before we were filming! If only we had been there a week earlier! 

We have released Bonanza first but we still have all the other tracks to come! We did six in total so we will release them over the next few weeks. Please please go and watch Bonanza and go and tell all your friends to watch it as well! Click here to have a look at it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tieUkuqzqNI

​

This week I also went back to Real World Studios to do some recording with my favourite Norwich City fan Steve Osbourne! It was really good, last time I went The Courteeners were in the main room but there was no one there this time! Steve also said that they hadn't had anyone that big in there since The Courteeners. We are working on Until Monday as it will be the next single. We have done the main bit of recording we just need to put some other bit down. Things like backing vocals and maybe a bit more guitar. This track doesn't sound anything like I play it live, but we will work on making it sound as similar to the recording when we play it!

I also played at The Old Queens Head on Wednesday. I have played there a few times and its always really great. The place is so cool, its quite hipster but its not pretentious, which is very important. I once played there and was supported by a ukulele band that just did Pulp covers and they were really good! All Sorted for E's and Whizz was really cool! (I cant find them on youtube otherwise i'd put a clip up!) 
Anyway this week I basically got heckled… I have been heckled before and its fine. I quite like it really cause it means people are listening. You've got to look at it as at least people are listening enough to bother to join in, even if it is sometime to say something a bit mean. But this time it was a member of the headline band who was heckling me. When I introduce Smiley Culture he kept shouting 'Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus' and then when I played Dance Rocksteady he said I shouldn't use the expression 'fat kids' in my song as I am discriminating the audience… It was basically just really annoying!! If it was something funny or cool then by all means shout out but Miley Cyrus is neither. Also if you shouldn't write lyrics like 'fat kids' then that means me, Morrissey, Pete Doherty and the person who originally wrote 'Hey Fatty Bum Bum' have discriminated our audiences… I didn't stay and watch their set! 

This week coming I am in the studio again to put down Bonanza and to play The Black Heart! Remember to watch the video!!xxxx

As we have finished our residency at The Dublin (which I miss!!) we have been doing some recording and filming! You might think that they're the same thing, but I mean filming as in making videos and then recording as in recording songs!!

Here are some photos taken showing behind the scenes of us filming the videos! 

We shot in Chapel Street Market and Camden Town Records as well as with a FANTASTIC vintage juke box collection! I cant wait to upload them all and for everyone to see / hear what we've been up to!

Anyway… here are the photo xxxxx 

On Thursday this week we were lucky enough to play Gaz's Rockin' Blues bar for the second time! 

The club is just off Wardour Street and its called St Moritz, the Rockin' Blues Bar is in the basement. Its really like no other place I have ever been/played. I don't really know how to describe it to people who haven't been there before… Its a bit like The Cavan Club! You go downstairs in to the bar which and theres really cool pictures all over the walls including a copy of a song written by Joe Strummer. The ceiling is really low and theres no windows and so the music is really loud. Theres only one bar and then theres a few rooms off the bar with tables and chairs in, they're really small and cosy. Then the room you play the music can only fit about 30 people in, theres a small DJ both and the mens toilets are literally on the left of the stage. I don't know if I am giving a very good description here, but its absolutely great there!!

The music is amazing, its all on vinyl and its really loud. The people are really cool too. They look like they've fallen out of Call The Midwife, but the cool characters, not all the nuns! Everybody should go, its like Glastonbury, everyone should experience it at least once! Last Thursday (when we played) was also the day that Prince Buster was announced dead (RIP Prince Buster you absolute legend) so it was really busy with Prince Buster fans. It was much busier this time than when we played last year, I wish I'd have got some film footage of it. When we played Joey and Bonanza all the people were banging their hands on the ceiling and singing with us! It was brilliant, I am surprised the ceiling didn't cave in! Gaz is so so so cool. He looks so different and unique and he's so friendly and approachable. He was best friends with Joe Strummer and so obviously I have asked him every single Joe Strummer question I could think of. Gaz is what makes London so great, and he's a great DJ! I'd love him to make me a playlist. Its like 50/60's music and its proper DJing not just putting a CD on, all proper vinyl!! If you haven't go! You must go!

My Pete's had a great time too! God bless them! When we arrived the owner of the club told us that the sound man had gone on holiday, so we had to set up the PA and everything ourselves! I had no idea what to do, I had two years at music college where we were meant to learn all about PA's and stuff like that, and I was useless! The Pete's sprang in to action, set up the equipment and then smashed our set!

Here's a picture of the Pete's on Peter Street… We couldn't find an Emily Road! 

​xxxxxxx